Qatar
Meeza delivers 4MW hyperscale expansion nine months early
Qatari data centre operator Meeza has completed a 4MW capacity expansion for an undisclosed global hyperscaler nine months ahead of schedule, enabling the customer to accelerate the deployment of cloud and digital services in Qatar. The project follows a QAR350Mn (US$96Mn) hosting agreement signed in July 2025 for more than a decade of capacity provision. Its early delivery is notable in a market where power availability, construction timelines and supply-chain constraints continue to affect large-scale infrastructure projects. Meeza has also secured a separate 6MW hosting agreement valued at more than QAR750Mn (US$205Mn) with another fast-growing global cloud provider, strengthening its contracted hyperscale pipeline. With five operational data centres in Qatar, the company is positioning itself to capture rising demand for cloud, AI and high-performance computing infrastructure while supporting the objectives of Qatar’s Digital Agenda 2030 and the country’s ambition to establish itself as a regional destination for hyperscale investment…Read more
UAE
Siada launches sovereign AI infrastructure hub in Ras Al Khaimah
Sovereign cloud provider Siada has launched a new data centre within Innovation City, Ras Al Khaimah’s AI-focused Free Zone, providing resident companies with on-demand access to Nvidia B200 GPUs hosted inside the UAE. Although the facility’s capacity and investment value have not been disclosed, the model allows startups and enterprises to rent compute by the hour, reserve longer-term capacity or deploy fully managed environments within isolated sovereign infrastructure. The development reflects growing regional demand for locally hosted AI compute that can provide verifiable data residency, infrastructure control and rapid access to advanced accelerators. Siada is expected to deploy additional facilities across the UAE and wider region, while Innovation City, formerly known as RAK Digital Assets Oasis, continues to position itself as a specialist hub for AI and digital-asset companies. The project adds to the UAE’s expanding AI infrastructure pipeline and illustrates how Free Zones are increasingly combining regulatory frameworks, company formation and sovereign compute capacity to attract technology businesses…Read more
Europe
Pure DC launches 550MW AI campus in Finland
Pure Data Centres Group has launched the first phase of SJK01, a planned 550MW AI infrastructure campus in Seinäjoki, Finland, representing one of Europe’s largest proposed data centre developments. The fully leased 110MW initial phase, which includes Microsoft as a customer, is expected to require more than €1.5Bn of investment, with planning approvals, power requirements and the first energised substation already secured. Subject to further approvals and customer contracts, the 370-acre campus could ultimately attract more than €7.5Bn of investment and access over 700MVA of renewable electricity. The development will be delivered through repeatable 40MW modules supporting high-density AI workloads, direct liquid cooling and closed-loop systems requiring no operational water. Construction is expected to span approximately a decade and support more than 3,000 jobs, alongside local grid and telecommunications upgrades, skills and reskilling programmes, and the reuse of waste heat within Seinäjoki’s district heating network. The project demonstrates how Europe’s emerging AI capacity pipeline is increasingly concentrating in locations able to combine abundant renewable power, available land, secured demand and long-term regional infrastructure planning…Read more
APAC
Asia-Pacific emerges as a global data centre demand engine
Asia-Pacific is evolving from a secondary destination for Western hyperscale expansion into a major data centre demand market in its own right, supported by cloud adoption, enterprise digitisation, sovereign AI strategies and growing domestic technology ecosystems. McKinsey estimates that the region could account for approximately 34% of global data centre demand by 2030, compared with around 46% for North America, as the workload mix moves from more than 70% traditional cloud, storage and compute today towards an approximately equal split between AI and conventional workloads. Western cloud providers committed more than US$160Bn to regional AI infrastructure between January 2024 and May 2026, while Asian technology companies including Alibaba and ByteDance are also investing heavily. Mainland China could represent more than 70% of APAC demand by 2030, but growth is also accelerating across India, Japan, Australia and Southeast Asian markets such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The opportunity, however, varies significantly by market: China is rapidly localising its chips, servers, cooling and electrical supply chains, while selected areas remain open to international capital and differentiated technologies. For operators, suppliers and investors, success will increasingly depend on identifying where demand is becoming structural, understanding local sovereign and procurement priorities, and securing positions within the platforms and infrastructure segments that control deployment standards and capacity growth. For the GCC, APAC’s expansion provides both a competitive benchmark and a potential source of investment, technology partnerships and cross-regional cloud demand as the two regions build increasingly sovereign AI infrastructure ecosystems…Read more